good morning and welcome to canterbury cathedral on this sunday morning it's the fourth sunday of easter tide and also the first sunday in the month of may and it's a beautiful day with blue sky and white clouds floating above me wherever you are in the world be welcome here and know that later in the morning we shall be broadcasting uh eucharist which has been put together in our homes so that you might feel in in communion with us while this cathedral is locked down and so many of us are also locked down in our own homes oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise in your resurrection o christ let heaven and earth rejoice alleluia blessed are you lord god of our salvation to you be praise and glory forever as once you ransomed your people from egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen son may we the first fruits of your creation rejoice in this new day you have made and praise you for your mighty acts blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind and as we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen one of the morning psalms this morning is psalm 15 and it's a lovely one to read on this morning lord who may dwell in your tabernacle who may rest upon your holy hill whoever leads an uncorrupt life and does the thing that is right who speaks the truth from the heart and bears no deceit on the tongue who does no evil to a friend and pours no scorn on a neighbor in whose sight the wicked are not esteemed but who honors those who fear the lord whoever has sworn to a neighbor and never goes back on that word who does not lend money in hope of gain nor takes a bribe against the innocent whoever does these things shall never fall we have been reading morning by morning the gospel of saint luke and this morning we've arrived at verse 41 of chapter two now the parents of jesus went to jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover and when jesus was 12 years old they went up as was their custom and when the feast was ended as they were returning the boy jesus stayed behind in jerusalem his parents did not know it but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances and when they did not find him they returned to jerusalem searching for him after three days they found him in that in the temple sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions and all who had him were amazed at his understanding and his answers and when his parents saw him they were astonished and his mother said to him my son why have you treated us so behold your father and i have been searching for you in great distress and he said to them why were you looking for me did you not know that i must be in my father's house and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them and he went down with them and came to nazareth and was submissive to them and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart and jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with god and man we've said before that luke loved that sentence mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart it's what we're doing this morning with this little piece of scripture which is the only incident shown between the birth narratives of jesus when he's a baby and his coming into ministry which luke tells us happened at the age of 30 or so this one cameo of jesus and in it one gets the distinction between the things of heaven and the things of earth luke is perfectly clear that the earthly parents of jesus in mary's mind are mary and joseph my son your father and i have sought you sorrowing jesus responds in a different dimension did you not know that i must be in my father's house see how everything is happening according to the customs that joseph and mary have been brought up in themselves and are bringing up their son in they are year by year going up to the temple and as we know from later in luke's gospel it was jesus's custom sabbath by sabbath to attend the synagogue here it's sunday morning and usually it's the custom to go into the cathedral for the celebration of the great eucharist but at the moment we are locked out so we're doing the best we can to stay in touch with each other at this particular time it's an important time but it's a time also when perhaps we have more time to do what mary did with the truth set before us not only the truths in the scriptures but the truths of our own lives and our own memories mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart it's a wonderful sentence for us to consider at this time of contemplation of an experience none of us have had before as the whole of humanity wrestles with coronavirus but at times it gives us pause to think and envision what the future might look like but it also gives us time to think of each other wherever we are and to pray for each other in distress or in great happiness for prayer is needed on both occasions and at the moment on this sunday morning that is what we can do so let us say an easter prayer to begin with and then think of those for whom we would pray the special prayer for this fourth sunday of easter tide almighty god whose son jesus christ is the resurrection and the life raise us who trust in him from the death of sin to the life of righteousness that we may seek those things which are above where he reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god now and forever amen here in this place on this sunday morning we pray in our anglican communion for the diocese of nippon seiko kai the anglican communion in japan and we pray for the prime at that nathaniel makoto matsu and pray for his ministry also as bishop of hokkaido and the people he looks after in that diocese here in this diocese we pray as always for justin archbishop of canterbury for rose bishop of dover tim bishop at lambeth and today we are asked to pray for all teachers and children at this time of covid 19 crisis we know how hard it is to teach online with the extended teaching that is being given at the moment that parents also are involved and concentrated with their children in a completely different way of learning and in one which children find difficult because they can't interact with each other we pray for the days when schools can come together again but for the moment we give thanks for the teaching which is being accomplished by really hard-working teachers teaching in a new medium we ask god's blessing upon them all wherever they are throughout the world and we say together the prayer that our lord taught us in whatever language and in whatever way you would like to say it our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever are men [Applause] moment of silence for your own prayers for those whom you have on your hearts this day [Applause] the god of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus that great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you this sunday morning and upon all whom you love now and always amen